The Auto Blog .ru

More details are filtering in about yesterday’s explosion at the General Motors Technical Center battery research lab in Warren, Michigan.

First, the number of people injured has climbed to five, with one taken to the hospital and four treated at the scene. The local deputy fire chief said none of the injuries were life-threatening. The fire department also told the local mayor that it was fumes from hydrogen sulfide that caused the explosion, but GM declined to comment on that aspect. We learned yesterday that a battery under “extreme testing” caused the explosion.

According to The Detroit News‘ David Shepardson on Twitter, “Chemical gases from the battery cells were released and ignited in the enclosed chamber. The battery itself was intact” and, “All areas of the Alternative Energy Center except for the battery lab and adjacent offices will operate normally on Thursday.”

Unnamed sources have told the media that it was a prototype battery pack made by A123 that caused the fire. Fox News says that pack was being tested for use in the Chevy Spark EV and other all-electric vehicles. Batteries made by A123 were recently involved in a $55 million replacement effort in the Fisker Karma.

Five people hurt in GM lab explosion, A123 battery reportedly responsible

What’s in a name? Just ask the people at Spyker.

Back in 2010, the small Dutch producer of exotic GTs bought an ailing Saab from General Motors and proceeded to focus all its energies on keeping it afloat. And as if to reflect that shift in focus, changed its name to Swedish Automobile NV – or SWAN for short.

Now that Saab has gone bankrupt, however, the Dutch holding company has officially changed its name back to Spyker. Just what that means, however, when the cars are built in the UK by CPP and the sportscar business was sold last year to North Street Capital, remains to be seen.

Continue reading Swedish Automobile changes name back to Spyker

Swedish Automobile changes name back to Spyker

The Detroit News reports the sum total of the remaining Saab assets is worth less than a third of the defunct automaker’s debts. All told, the company owes a hefty $1.9 billion at current conversion rates, though its total property value rings in at a comparatively paltry $532 million. The debt includes $89 million owed to former employees, $107 million to General Motors and $388 million to Sweden itself. With so many hands to feed and so few dollars to go around, Saab says only those who hold securities are likely to have their debts paid.

That means those who were employed by Saab Automobile likely won’t see a dime. The horizon looks a bit more rosy for Saab Automobile Powertrain workers, however.

Saab had said the company has six or seven investors interested in saving the manufacturer’s name from falling into obscurity, though it’s unclear how many of those remain dedicated to the prospect currently.

Saab’s assets less than one-third of its debts

Early reports are filtering in this morning of an explosion at a General Motors Technical Center battery research lab in Warren, Michigan. According to The Detroit News, a battery exploded injuring one or two people.

According to the report, Warren’s fire department received a call at around 9AM this morning, only to find two injured and “a small fire” stemming from the explosion. A General Motors spokesman apparently put the number of injured parties at one, so there is still some confusion about the number of people affected by the incident at this point.

A HAZMAT team was dispatched to the Tech Center and the building has been evacuated, with all employees accounted for. Detroit NBC affiliate WXYZ is on the scene with a live feed that you can watch here. The extent of the injuries and damage, along with what caused the explosion, are not immediately clear, but we will have more details as they become available, so stay tuned.

*UPDATE: Video added after the jump.
** UPDATE: In a statement added after the jump, GM now says the explosion was caused by “extreme testing of a prototype battery” that is “unrelated to the Chevrolet Volt or any other production vehicle.”

Continue reading Battery explodes at GM Tech Center research lab, one or more injured *UPDATE

Battery explodes at GM Tech Center research lab, one or more injured *UPDATE

Former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz went bicep-to-bicep with “America’s ballsiest pundit,” Stephen Colbert, last night – and came out ahead. Ostensibly, Lutz was on Colbert to talk about his new book, Car Guys Vs. Bean Counters, but as one might expect, the discussion veered into Mitt Romney vs. President Obama territory pretty quickly.

The actual car industry part of the discussion, though, revealed more potential good news for the Chevrolet Volt, the car that Lutz is obviously trying to make his legacy and called “a huge success.” Sure, Colbert talked about what his friends over at Fox News have been saying, but Lutz responded by predicting that sales would be “about 3,000 a month from here on out.” This would not only set a new record (Volt sales for March 2012 were 2,289, the highest so far) but would also put GM’s plug-in car into the 36,000-a-year range. That’s commendable, but still not where GM CEO Dan Akerson said last December things would be this year. Of course, Akerson’s 60,000 number could have included the Opel Ampera and its Vauxhall twin. In any case, things are looking up for the Volt, and that’s something Lutz is more than happy to tell Colbert or anyone else. Watch the video – including an impromptu push-up contest between the two – right now by scrolling below.

Continue reading Bob Lutz wins push-up contest on The Colbert Report

Bob Lutz wins push-up contest on The Colbert Report

The Detroit Free Press reports that the United States Treasury has exercised its power to put a cap on executive compensation at General Motors by freezing CEO Dan Akerson’s pay at last year’s levels. Akerson brought home a total of $9 million last year including salary, stock and restricted stock.

The executive’s $1.7 million salary will remain unchanged this year, with the rest of his earnings coming via performance-based stock salary. Meanwhile, some 25 of the company’s most highly compensated executives will also see their compensation limited for 2012. All told, the Treasury says executive pay dropped by around 12 percent from 2011 to 2012.

GM has warned meddling with executive pay could result in a talent exodus from the company, but so far, The Detroit Free Press reports only two leaders have walked away from the automaker. GM says the cuts may also make it difficult to hire new talent moving forward.

GM currently owes the U.S. Treasury around $25 billion.

How does Akerson’s pay line up with other auto executives? Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne takes home a combined $22.2 million for his efforts both at the American automaker and Fiat while Ford CEO Alan Mulally earned an impressive $29.5 million in 2011.

Treasury orders executive pay cuts at GM including CEO Akerson

If you haven’t noticed, NBC’s The Office has really jumped the shark since Steve Carrell left the show at the end of last season. Or maybe the beginning of the end was Pam and Jim’s wedding during the sixth season. Regardless, the point is that the show is no longer very funny or edgy, nor does it ever make the audience uncomfortable in the way the brilliant original BBC version did. Rather, as the main characters in the American version of the show have become caricatures, The Office has grown predictable and formulaic.

And this is why Chevrolet can launch an ad campaign like its “Under The Blue Arch” series. Despite the brief, 30-second running times of the ads, the characters are instantly recognizable and the “plots” are easy to follow. Although the scenes set in a Chevy dealership play with the tropes created by the Emmy Award-winning series, they do so to little comic effect. Because comedy isn’t the point – these are ads, after all, full of ham-handed product information and designed to sell cars.

If anyone should understand that it’s Joel Ewanick, General Motors’ Chief Marketing Officer. Yet he told Automotive News at the New York Auto Show that GM has “talked about turning this into an actual show because we’ve got so much material.”

Well, that Chevy product line isn’t nearly the joke it once was, but if you say so…

Let’s just chalk this one up to Ewanick being a bit starstruck. “Under The Blue Arch” was created by Randall Einhorn, one of the directors of The Office, and it “stars” Wayne Wilderson, who appeared on the NBC show in 2006.

Click past the jump, where you can watch a few of the ads.

Continue reading GM’s Ewanick mulls turning Chevy ad campaign into sitcom

GM’s Ewanick mulls turning Chevy ad campaign into sitcom

While the 2014 Chevrolet Impala may have many charming qualities and boast a plethora of engine options, one feature it reportedly won’t be offering is all-wheel drive. According to GMInsideNews.com, Chevrolet reps have said all-wheel drive is not part of the short-term or long-term plan for the new large sedan.

While the Impala will share a platform with the Cadillac XTS and Buick LaCrosse – both of which do offer AWD – apparently General Motors wants to keep the Impala front-drive-only to help differentiate it from the Buick and Cadillac. While it remains to be seen whether the lack of all-wheel drive will hurt the Impala’s chances of competing with the Ford Taurus and Dodge Charger, which both offer it, Chevy’s people have reportedly called all-wheel drive a “very slim piece of the full-size sedan market.”

No all-wheel drive option in sight for 2014 Chevrolet Impala

The GMC brand celebrates its 100th birthday this year, and the 1912 New York Auto Show is where it all started. To commemorate the occasion, General Motors‘ utility brand has created special Heritage Edition packages for both the Sierra pickup and Yukon sport-ute, and both make their public debut here at the 2012 New York expo.

An option group priced from $1,820 to $2,645, the Heritage Edition package adds cosmetic upgrades like new paint colors (including the Heritage Blue you see here), embroidered headrests and floor mats, large chrome wheels, chrome door handles, a power liftgate and an original GMC logo.

Scroll down to read the full details in GM’s press blast and see the Heritage Edition package from all angles in our attached high-res image gallery. Oh, and happy hundredth, GMC!

Continue reading 2012 GMC Sierra and Yukon Heritage Editions say, “Happy 100th!”

2012 GMC Sierra and Yukon Heritage Editions say, “Happy 100th!”

Ram is out to make both Ford and General Motors sweat with the Auburn Hills automaker’s newest pickup, the 2013 1500. Debuting at the 2012 New York Auto Show, the half-ton pickup bows with less weight, an efficient new 3.6-liter V6 option and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Chrysler projects the V6 alone should help yield 20 percent better fuel economy over the old 3.7 lump, thanks in part to a start/stop system. While there are no solid EPA numbers as of yet, our estimations put the vehicle at around 17 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. Throw in aerodynamic tweaks like an active shutter system that closes off the engine bay and a standard air-ride suspension that lowers the vehicle by as much as 1.2 inches for better efficiency, easier loading and load leveling and you have a force to be reckoned with.

The Pentastar churns out 305 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque, besting the 3.7-liter V6 in the Ford F-150 by around three ponies. Chrysler has also increased the output of the optional 5.7-liter V8, from 390 hp to 395 and 407 lb-ft of torque. Engineers managed to free up the extra grunt by using an electronic power steering system in place of the old belt-driven unit. Interestingly enough, the V8 will also boast 20 percent better fuel economy thanks to an eight-speed automatic.

In addition, the new 1500 features a tweaked interior, complete with the company’s excellent 8.4-inch UConnect touch screen interface. We love the system in vehicles like the Dodge Charger, and the tech should be right at home on the big pickup.

Chrysler also managed to trim a significant amount of weight from the 2013 Ram 1500. In V6 guise, the truck now uses aluminum control arms, an aluminum hood, a new bed and frame design as well as lighter bumpers for a combined weight savings of around 147 pounds over the previous generation. V8 models get away with a more modest trimming. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Continue reading 2013 Ram 1500 ups the pickup ante with new V6, less weight

2013 Ram 1500 ups the pickup ante with new V6, less weight

General Motors is taking a big gamble in a little way with its 2013 Chevrolet Spark. The Detroit automaker is betting that high fuel prices and an increased awareness of one’s ecological footprint will mean more consumers are willing to entertain a new car with an even smaller err… footprint. The Spark will join other minicars like the Fiat 500, Scion iQ and Smart ForTwo, none of which have met with significant sales volume. On the other hand, its big brother, the Sonic has performed well in the early going. In addition, the Spark offers more physical volume than its peers – as well as a set of rear doors – so practicality appears to be solidly in favor of Camp Chevy.

The five-door Spark will test America’s appetites for small car life with a starting price of just $12,995 (*including delivery) when it arrives in Chevrolet showrooms later this year. Available in a trio of trims, the lineup will start with the well-equipped LS model that includes a whopping 10 airbags, air conditioning, power windows, OnStar and 15-inch alloys.

Stepping up to the 1LT trim will cost $14,495, but it adds an audio system with seven-inch color touchscreen, USB connectivity and satellite radio. Additional features include keyless entry, power mirrors, cruise control, Bluetooth (”for select phones”) and mundane items like visor mirrors and floor mats. The range-topping 2LT ($15,795) will be distinguished by a unique set of 15-inch wheels, sportier body-color fascias, fog lamps and additional exterior brightwork. Inside, heated, leatherette-covered seats and a leather-wrapped wheel spruce up the cabin.

Regardless of which trim spec is selected, buyers will find a 1.2-liter Ecotec four-cylinder underhood, and a five-speed manual is standard equipment, though a four-speed automatic can be substituted for $925.

GM announced back in October that it will also bring a Spark EV to “select markets” in the U.S. sometime in 2013, though it has yet to announce pricing or an on-sale date for the pure electric runabout.

Continue reading 2013 Chevrolet Spark to start at $12,995*

2013 Chevrolet Spark to start at $12,995*

Just the other day, we heard that General Motors might extend its traditional two-week summer shutdown to three weeks for the Chevrolet Volt. But, after record Volt sales last month, we wonder how the calendar looks in Hamtramck now. We wonder because we are hearing reports that the current shutdown – originally scheduled to run for five weeks, from March 19 to April 23 – will be shortened by a week. GM originally decided on the hold to reduce supply that had grown too large because of soft demand.

Don LaForest, the chairman of the United Auto Workers bargaining committee at the Hamtramck plant where the Volt is made, told Talking Points Memo that GM is “adding a week of production back in.” The Detroit News reports that GM President of North America Mark Reuss said the same thing Wednesday during the New York Auto Show. Reuss said, “We’re doing it because we sold a lot.”

Increasing sales numbers (GM sold 2,289 Volts in March – well over double February’s 1,023-unit total) come at a time when some of the right-wing attacks on the plug-in hybrid appear to have calmed down. LaForest told TPM that his union workers have been confused about these criticisms. “I don’t think Newt or Mitt have said a single negative thing about the Nissan Leaf,” he said. “They’re attacking our car to get at the President. But our car is going to change the way America does business. It’s a breath of fresh air.”

Improving Chevy Volt sales leads GM to shorten summer shutdown

The Chevrolet Traverse isn’t the only grandiose crossover from General Motors to get the refresh treatment at the 2012 New York Auto Show. Buick also unveiled a face-lifted version of its 2013 Enclave today.

Though the tweaks appear slight at first blush, the vehicle boasts an all-new front fascia with a redesigned grille and black-chrome accents, contoured headlamps and a more aggressive hood up front. LED daytime running lights are standard equipment, as are the LED tail lamps out back. A revised rear fascia wraps up the changes out back.

Indoors, designers threw in LED ambient lighting as well as a smattering of soft-touch materials across the dash and door panels. The cabin can be swaddled in a total of four interior combinations with associated “complimenting” wood tones. The center stack has also been reworked with touch-capacitive controls. Here’s hoping GM has better luck with the technology than what’s found on various Ford vehicles. Keep scrolling for the full press release.

Continue reading 2013 Buick Enclave does a slightly different song and dance

2013 Buick Enclave does a slightly different song and dance

General Motors has just unveiled its facelifted 2013 Chevrolet Traverse at the New York Auto Show today. The big crossover has abandoned the company’s corporate grille in favor of a new design that’s expected to eventually make its way to the rest of the Chevrolet utility vehicle stable. With three chrome-finish bars across the upper grille inlet, more expressive headlamp arrays and a new foglight design, the 2013 Traverse looks a bit more conservative and polished than it did before, at least from up front. Move past the A-pillar, however, and the vehicle looks plenty familiar. Even with a new hatch, redesigned taillamps and a modestly massaged rear valance, the 2013 Traverse hasn’t strayed too far from its family-minded original recipe.

Likewise, the 2013 model’s drivetrain remains untouched as well. The same 3.6-liter V6 puts down 288 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque through either the front wheels or an all-wheel drive system and the six-speed automatic has been reworked for quicker shifting.

Buyers will be able to opt for Chevrolet’s new MyLink system, complete with Internet-based applications like Stitcher and Pandora as well as Bluetooth voice and audio capability. Like its fellow Lambda-platform sibling, the reworked Buick Enclave, the Traverse will also be available with a new center airbag that bisects driver and front-seat passenger. Hit the jump for the full press release and peruse our live shots for more views of this Chevy staple.

Continue reading 2013 Chevrolet Traverse loses the family nose

2013 Chevrolet Traverse loses the family nose

General Motors has officially unveiled the 2014 Chevrolet Impala at this year’s New York Auto Show. Riding on the same bones as the 2013 Malibu, the next-generation Impala boasts a considerably more attractive exterior with plenty of personality. Borrowing the best elements of design from the GM stable, we see more than a little Camaro and Lacrosse in the sedan’s front fascia and stylized hips. Buyers can look forward to either standard 18-inch wheels or a slew of larger options, including massive 20-inch rollers. Under the hood, GM has graced the 2014 Impala with a range efficient direct-injection engines, including a 2.4-liter four-cylinder paired with the automaker’s eAssist hybrid system.

With 182 horsepower and 172 pound-feet of torque, the drivetrain falls well short of the 288 horsepower offered up by the Ford Taurus, though it does so while returning significantly better fuel economy. GM Says the four-cylinder Impala will return 35 mpg highway, six mpg better than the full-size Ford.

Those who need a little extra grunt can step up to the company’s tried-and-true 3.6-liter V6 with 303 horsepower and 234 lb-ft of torque, and there’s also a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder available that produces 195 horsepower, while all three engines are mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox. Keep scrolling for the official press release from Chevrolet, and check our galleries of live and official images while you’re at it.

Continue reading 2014 Chevrolet Impala is a full-size improvement [w/video]

2014 Chevrolet Impala is a full-size improvement [w/video]

You know things are rough when you have to sell your corporate headquarters to raise some cash. But that’s just what PSA Peugeot-Citroën did this week, unloading its Parisian office building for about $327 million, according to Automotive News.

The 48-year-old headquarters is located in Paris’ central business district, not far from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees. According to the report, the French carmaker will continue to lease the building from its new owner, Ivanhoe Cambridge, a real estate subsidiary of Canadian pension fund management company Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund.

This latest move follows several efforts by PSA Peugeot-Citroën to reduce debt, cut costs and boost profitability. Last fall, it cut 6,000 jobs and in January it pulled out of Le Mans racing. In February, it announced a plan to liquidate assets and agreed to sell a seven-percent stake to General Motors, as part of a new global alliance that could help both car companies trim costs through shared purchasing.

Peugeot-Citroën raises cash by selling its Paris headquarters

Chrysler Keeps Winning, Hyundai and Kia Set Records

Another chapter has been written in the comeback story of Chrysler, which reported a 69.7-percent sales increase in March compared to a year earlier. We’re starting to wonder, though, what will happen if gas prices continue rising. If consumers begin to shift their tastes back to smaller, more fuel efficient cars, Chrysler will find itself without much to offer. The promising Dodge Dart is coming but not here yet, and Chrysler doesn’t offer any passenger vehicles as hybrids or diesels. The Ram 1500 is of course available with a diesel, but we doubt consumers will flock to it for a respite from rising fuel costs.

Hyundai also had a good month of sales in March. Actually, it had the best month of sales in its history of selling cars in the U.S. Nearly all of its high-volume products are selling well, while the Veloster is picking up momentum and adding all-new sales to the mix. Soon, the completely redesigned Azera will go on sale, which means this new all-time sales record likely won’t last long. Its Korean counterpart, Kia, also enjoyed its best month ever.

A couple of automakers who seem to be teetering on the edge of trouble are General Motors and Honda. GM can be happy with positive performances last month from Chevrolet and GMC, but Buick and Cadillac continue to falter and find themselves on the very bottom of our sales chart trends this month. Honda, meanwhile, hasn’t seemed to have found its footing as well as rival Toyota, despite both companies reporting that their production lines are completely restored following a year of disruptive natural disasters.

Check out how the rest of the industry did in our monthly sales chart below, and visit our By the Numbers section to see all past months.

*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 28 selling days in March 2012 versus 27 selling days in March 2011, so there will be a difference between monthly sales volume and the average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.

March 2011 - Fool on a Hill Edition

We’ve long maintained that we live in the best era of automotive history to date. Today’s vehicles are safer, more efficient, faster, more powerful and more controllable than ever before.

Need proof? In an age dominated by talk of ever tighter fuel economy regulations, buyers now have access to a staggering number of vehicles with more than 500 horsepower. Just 10 years ago, if you wanted to bring home a showroom stock vehicle with that kind of power, your options were limited to either the Ferrari 575M or the Lamborghini Murcielago. Now there are over 70 models with that kind of grunt on tap.

All told, there are over eighteen brands with at least one 500+hp model for sale in their ranks right now. Even better, those dyno numbers are being accomplished with smaller, more fuel-efficient engines. While most of the big-power vehicles come from European brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, General Motors and Ford have also entered the fray lately. Chrysler will do the same with the company’s soon-to-be-unveiled SRT Viper.

Interestingly enough, buyers have an even loftier horsepower goal to look toward these days. Of every car sold in the U.S., just 13 produce more than 600 horsepower.

Number of 500+HP vehicles on sale tops 70

The United Auto Workers has seen an increase in membership for the second straight year, according to Bloomberg. Last year, the union saw its ranks grow by 1.1 percent to 380,719 members, thanks in part to increased hiring by domestic automakers. In 2010, the UAW grew by six percent, but today’s total is still a fraction of the 1.5 million members the union boasted in 1979. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are expected to hire around 14,750 union workers by 2015, according to the report. That number is likely far below what the UAW will need to be able to secure significant bargaining leverage.

To that end, the UAW has made it clear that organizing a foreign-owned manufacturing facility is crucial to its survival. UAW president Bob King vowed to unionize one such plant last year but failed to do so. Now the UAW is reportedly handing out authorization cards at the new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Workers there have reportedly had mixed-reactions to the prospect of unionization.

UAW membership climbs 1.1% thanks to automakers adding jobs

Automotive News reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun two separate investigations following reports of engine fires in both 2011 Chevrolet Cruze and 2010 Jeep Wrangler models. The government agency received two complaints about fires in Cruze sedans and eight in Wrangler models, with some reporting their vehicles were completely destroyed. In both Cruze cases, the compact sedans were being driven when the fires occurred. One Cruze Eco owner reported seeing smoke emanating from the engine bay, and the vehicle was completely engulfed in flames five minutes after coming to a stop.

In seven of the Wrangler cases, the engine was running when the fires started. One owner reported seeing burning liquid pouring onto the ground that couldn’t be extinguished with water. In 2010, Chrysler recalled certain Wrangler models to address automatic transmission fluid that could overheat and expel onto hot surfaces, causing fires.

Both General Motors and Chrysler are cooperating with their respective NHTSA investigations and say they are unaware of any injuries or fatalities stemming from the fires.

NHTSA investigating Chevy Cruze, Jeep Wrangler over engine fires